Lex Green, Libertarian candidate for governor

Conservative blames both major parties for Illinois' ailing economy

October 11, 2010|By Oscar Avila, Tribune reporter

Libertarian Party candidate Lex Green has found it tough to set himself apart as one of two conservatives from Bloomington running for governor.

Republican candidate Bill Brady shares that hometown and some of the same message, so Green is stressing that putting a Republican in the governor's mansion is no better an option than picking Gov. Pat Quinn and the Democrats to fix the state's economic woes.

"It's the same policies from two different parties. As Libertarians, we call it the one-party system," Green said. "If you don't like what the Republicans and the Democrats are doing and you vote for one of them, you're basically telling them that it's OK."

The Libertarian Party promotes government getting out of the way unless absolutely necessary. The party's best showing in an Illinois governor's race was 2 percent in 2002, and it survived Republican-backed petition challenges to get on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Though Libertarians eschew government spending in favor of local decision-making, Green is an electrician at the Mitsubishi Motors automobile assembly plant. The company located in Illinois in 1985, lured by tens of millions of dollars in tax subsidies and incentives awarded by state government.

Green has released budget proposals that include drastic cuts in state funding for education, especially among programs helping blind, autistic and other students with special needs.

Local school districts should assume most of those duties, Green said. While conceding that some districts will have to raise property taxes in response, he thinks school boards are held accountable more easily than state bureaucrats. He also said he would back a limited role for state funding to help some poor districts with a weak property tax base.

The 56-year-old candidate supports ending the state's participation with the federal Medicaid program for low-income citizens but is short on details about how to shift to a state-run program. He said fewer citizens would be eligible under his state-run vision.

"We will go in and make hard decisions. I guess it's political suicide, but I don't care," Green said.

At the same time, Green added, "I'm not going to come in with a hatchet and say I don't care where it falls. I am not doing it uncaringly. I have a lot of respect for how this is going to affect individuals and families."

The philosophy that government should be decentralized fits into Green's role as a state leader with the Tenth Amendment Center. The group promotes strict adherence to the constitution's 10th Amendment, which specifies that the states retain all power not specifically granted to the federal government.

That approach caused a minor stir last summer when Green told reporters in Springfield that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was inconsistent with state sovereignty, similar to the stance that sparked a backlash against U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul in Kentucky.

More recently, Green elaborated by saying the federal government should have challenged Jim Crow laws at odds with the Bill of Rights without imposing its own legislation.

Green considers himself a tea party member, but says the movement has not rallied behind him. That's in part because of the Libertarian Party's socially liberal positions: Green favors legalizing marijuana and allowing towns to build as many casinos as they would like.

Diane Benjamin, a founder of the tea party group in the Bloomington-Normal area, said many members also are choosing the most electable conservative, even if some of the Libertarian candidate's positions are more appealing.

"Everybody is scared to death that Quinn is going to be re-elected. Therefore, they are afraid to veer away from Brady," said Benjamin, who is supporting Green.

Green's running mate is Ed Rutledge, a Chicago real estate investor making his first bid for elected office.

Green is fighting a huge funding disadvantage, expecting to raise only about $50,000, enough to run a few radio spots. The biggest challenge, Green said, is the perception that a vote for the Libertarians is a wasted vote. A Tribune poll conducted at the end of last month showed him at 2 percent support, with 76 percent of voters saying they had never heard of him.

"I've been told that my approach is radical," Green said. "What's really radical is if we don't do anything and the state is totally broke. Wait a minute … I think we're there."